Device for preventing hens from setting



(No Model.)

A. J. SPARKS. DEVICE FOR PREVENTING HENS FROM SETTING.

No. 582,320. Patented May 11, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE.

ANDREW J. SPARKS, or ROXTON, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF TO JOHN D. BOYD, or AMBIA, TEXAS.

DEVICE FOR PREVENTING HENS FROM SETTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 582,320, dated May 11, 1897. Application filed October 15, 1896- Serial No. 608,958. (No model.)

T 0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ANDREW J. SPARKS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Roxton,in the county of Lamar and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Preventing Hens from Setting; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for preventing hens from setting; and itconsists of certain novel constructions, con1- binations, and arrangements of parts, all of which will be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings,formin g part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a hen with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 represents an enlarged front elevation of my device, and Fig. 3 represents an enlarged rear elevation of the same.

A in the drawings represents the hen, and B my improved hood. The said hood B is preferably constructed of leather and consists of a curved portion I), having ends 19 The upper edge of said curved portion 1) is provided with a neck-strip Z2 preferably integral therewith and provided upon one of its ends with a buckle 12 into which the opposite end I) of said strip is adapted to be passed. The lower portion of the curved part b is provided with a rearwardly-extending strip b preferably integral therewith and provided with a pinrality of slits I), through which the strip containing the buckle b is passed. The forward portion of the curved part b is provided with an aperture 12 through which the bill of the fowl is adapted to protrude. The said portion 1), just above the aperture 1)", is formed with a slot b having perforations I) along each side of the same. The office of this slot b is to allow the comb of the fowl to protrude through the same, thus permitting the hood to fit down firmly over the head. As the hood may not exactly fit the varying sizes of the various fowls, a. lacing Z2 is passed through the apertures 19 to increase or decrease the length of the slot b at will.

It will thus be of strapsfor securing said hood in observed that the comb-slot can be adjusted to fit any-sized comb. I Then this device is to be applied to a hen,

the hood is slipped over her head with the comb projecting through the eomb-slotand the bill through the bill-aperture. The strip 12 is then buckled through the buckle b and the hood thus secured firmly in position.

When a hen is provided with one of these improved hoods, she can neither see to the right nor the left nor upward, and she is thus prevented from flyingto any elevated position.

All nestsin the modern construction of henneries are constructed at an elevation from the ground, and as a fowl will never fly in a direction in which it cannot first look the hen will thus be prevented from flying up into the nest.

The device will also prevent fowls from flying over fences and into gardens and the like. \Vhen a hen is provided with one of these hoods, the action of eating is not interfered with at all, as she can look downward and toward the ground as readily as she could.

were the hood not in position at all.

It will be observed that while the hen is prevented from reaching the nest or flying over fences she is perfectly free to scratch about or eat at pleasure.

' Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device for preventing the setting of hens, the combination with a hood adapted to be applied over a hens head and havinga comb-slot and a bill-aperture formed therein, position, substantially as described.

2. In a device for preventing the setting of hens, the combination with a hood composed of a curved portion havinga comb-slot and a bill-aperture, of ends for holding said curved portion in position, and means for securing said hood in position upon the hens head, substantially as described.

3. In a device for preventing the setting of he n s, the combination with a hood having a comb-slot and a bill-aperture, of means for increasing or decreasing the length of said slot at will, and strips for securing said hood the fowls neck, and through the strap-100p of the first-mentioned strap to secure the hood in position upon the neck of the fowl, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ANDREW J. SPARKS. WVitnesses:

J. M. RONAN, CHAS. E. BAUGHMAN. 

